Jan-Case
Wolfburn From The Stills Summer 2020 Distillery Exclusive
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
October 6, 2020 (edited October 14, 2020)
Wolfburn is one of the more interesting Distilleries out there for me at the moment. The whole package is intriguing to me with their idea, philosophy, standards and design.
I started with sample bottles of their core range which left me uninspired and actually a bid disappointed. But then I gave it another go with their special releases which they do regularly and one of those really surprised and convinced me. This one here is a single release of a special bottling as well. It is their first real peated bottling. They have a peated whisky in their core range with the “Morven” but that one is only peated because it is aged in reused Lagavulin casks.
I bought this bottle while not knowing about its actual taste and also without a lot of expectations. It was mostly because of supporting Wolfburn during the pandemic.
Nose: very mild but juicy both with the bright fruitiness and the peat. The peat is present but not overwhelming at all. It is nice. Feels cool and dry - like a burned down fire the next morning. Equally present is the slightly vibrant orchard fruits, some fresh mango and some mild honey notes as well. But I also get a aroma spectrum that I know from another Wolfburn bottle that I have (“No 375”) which I assume could be considered their apparent signature aromas. A bid of malty grain and also a little exotic spices (Curcuma / sweet Indian curry). A couple of more years - because it feels as young as it is (around 5 years) - but with more time this has potential to become something really nice. That is what I am hoping for.
Palate: first a cold ash smokiness, not sweet, very mild, feels a bid diluted. Then it slowly gets a bid more subtle sweet. There is unsweetened granola, and an interesting hop-bitterness.
Finish: medium short, the peat is there but sadly not very pleasant, it leaves a slightly disturbing bitterness in your mouth. Not sure what to make of that.
It isn’t bad for sure but it really feels unfinished and not very round. Very light, simple and uninteresting really. The nose is simple, straight forward but nice, the palate interesting but feels diluted, the finish is just okay but gets a little better after some sips. But all in all it isn’t a good whiskey.
I will for sure keep an eye on Wolfburn but will stay off their peated bottlings with no other cask finishes until they release their first age statements. I have high hopes but can’t really tell what their real final products will be like.
61.0
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Wolfburn Distillery
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@cascode Thanks for explaining. I think the combination of them having used full sherry maturation and a light distillate does explain why just bourbon could be their best offering.
@ContemplativeFox Out of the Wolfburn expressions I’ve tasted to date the ones I’ve most enjoyed have all been 100% ex-bourbon matured, or ex-bourbon and quarter-cask. My least favourites have been Aurora (which is part bourbon and part oloroso cask full maturation - not just a sherry finish) and a special oloroso sherry casking done for an Australian whisky bar. Yes, I think the vanilla and mild fruitiness of ex-bourbon (plus some extractive surface char) goes well with Wolfburn’s light character. The sherried expressions so far have all been oloroso. I would be interested to try Wolfburn fully matured in fresh European oak ex-PX sherry. It would probably swamp the distillate, but I bet it would be pretty tasty anyway. @Jan-Case you can get a 50ml sampler from their online store of the Langskip expression, which is fully first-fill bourbon maturation at cask strength (116 proof). I quite liked the Langskip, but not as much as the Small Batch releases which are also all bourbon at 46%, I think.
@cascode great information there. Thanks. What I like about them is that even though they release everything so far as NAS they still tell you about the actual age of the whisky used somewhere on the box, bottle or website. I think all their releases have potential and would have been a lot better at cask strength. Understandably so they obviously didn’t but I would like try a 5cl bottle of CS because their base signature flavors are really nice.
@cascode It's interesting that you'd suggest full bourbon maturation for them. Is it because of the light distillate? I've found that others like Glen Grant do well with pure bourbon maturation, but I usually enjoy the increased complexity of a sherry finish. Or were you meaning several, rather than just a couple, years in bourbon and then also a sherry finish?
@Jan-Case Wolfburn had a couple of rough expressions right at the start, which is not surprising for a new distillery, but they quickly overcame any initial issues. They only ran their first spirit in January 2013, so the oldest juice currently available is less than 8 years old, but Shane Fraser specifically designed their new-make to be light and require short maturation, which was a canny move as it allowed them to bring very pleasant NAS whisky to market after only 3 years. I asked brand ambassador Mark Westmorland whether they are planning to eventually transition to age statements once there is sufficient older stock available but he was a bit cagey. I think it’s almost guaranteed, but the official line from the distillery at the moment is “we’re happy making great NAS whisky”. Like you, I like the basic core-range but it’s nothing spectacular. On the other hand the three special releases they have so far issued have all been very interesting and show what they are really capable of doing. BTW at a masterclass I had the opportunity to try some fully-sherry matured Wolfburn, and it was pretty forgettable IMHO. I feel that their distillate begs for at least a couple of years in bourbon casks, and preferably full maturation in bourbon wood.
I'm hopeful about Wolfburn too, but I haven't been all that impressed by what I've tried so far, unfortunately.